Asking Sonia Gandhi and Rahul Gandhi to clear their stand on corruption, BJP leader Arun Jaitley on Monday accused Himachal Pradesh chief minister Virbhadra Singh of taking bribe from a private power firm and wanted to know what action the Congress leadership would take against him.
It is a test for Sonia and Rahul to show whether their anger against corruption is real or contrived, the leader of the opposition in the Rajya Sabha said.
Jaitley, who has written to prime minister Manmohan Singh and the CBI on the case, alleged that Virbhadra took bribe from Venture Energy and Technology Pvt. Ltd for granting it extension for a project. “The company was sanctioned a hydel power project in 2002. However, the company defaulted and sanction was withdrawn in 2004. But after Virbhadra assumed office again and he gave 10 month extension to the company through a cabinet decision,” he alleged.
Jaitley wrote to the prime minister that the owner of the company, V Chandrashekhar made paid Rs 1.5 crore and Rs 2.4 crore to Virbhadra Singh and his wife Pratibha Singh. In her affidavit before the Mandi by-election, Pratibha disclosed that the promoter of the company had given an unsecured loan of said amount to her and her husband. Jaitley said, “Can a chief minister and his wife take loan from a company to whom the chief minister had shown favours?”
Jaitley further wrote that Tarini Infrastructures Ltd, another company promoted by V Chandrashekhar, in its filing before the Registrar of Company (ROC) declared that Pratibha Singh, Virbhadra Singh’s son and daughter, Vikramaditya Singh and Aparajita Kumari, are its shareholders. Besides, Amit Pal Singh, OSD to the chief minister, also got equity shares in the company, Jaitley said. “There cannot be a stronger evidence of quid pro quo. Its an open and shut case against the chief minister of Himachal Pradesh,” he said.
He demanded immediate investigation by the Income Tax authorities and the CBI. “I request you to look in to this matter for appropriate action,” he told the prime minister and annexed a list of 20 documents against the Himachal chief minister.
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